Facts of the Matter | Bark: A Blog of Literature, Culture, and Art

Until they found out they had republished the essay, TriQuarterly really wanted you to read and discuss Anonymous? ?The Facts of the Matter,? from Metawritings: Toward a Theory of Nonfiction, ed. Jill Talbot, which you can find here. *

The essay focuses on fact and truth in creative nonfiction and uses?spoiler alert?a fictional narrative to make its case. You will have suspected something false in the writing, because Anonymous?gives clues: ?Atwan asked his audience, ?Is it possible that a piece of personal writing can be grounded in fiction and still be considered an essay??? and ?Does it matter if what gets us into bed (or into a book) is a lie? If the ?factual? story we?re being sold is not, in truth, fact?but a fiction??

Once on firm ground again in the postscript, you find yourself relieved because 1. you are still clever and 2. this ?writing instructor? is not a remorseless rapist but a writing instructor making a point creatively.?And so upon completing our careful, clever reading of the piece, we return to the question asked in the introductory editor?s note ?What animal was this? A memoir? Essay? Craft essay? Fictional autobiography??**

My money is on ?essay.? Perhaps you are thinking that I have a low moral compass in the fact vs. truth debate, and maybe that?s fair, because recently a friend called me to ask:

?Is the Onion creative nonfiction??

?Oh god,? I said.

In the Onion,

I conducted a short survey with my peers: ?Is satire grounded in the real world creative nonfiction or fiction??

We talked about The Screwtape Letters and Candide, and agreed that they were fictions. But when it came to the Onion, the Daily Show, and the Colbert Report, everyone I spoke with said that these were creative nonfiction.

Sometimes, one of the articles or clips will strike me as fiction, but other times, I?ll think it?s creative nonfiction with some exaggerations and topped with a double entendre, effective ridicule and entertainment.

While I would never tell someone to ignore the facts when writing or speaking, I do think that the trend of fast-and-loose facts or fuzzy facts is here to stay, particularly when humor is involved. As long as it doesn?t involve deliberate deception (cough cough Frey cough cough), it seems like people are growing more comfortable sacrificing facts to make a point.

So, I would say that the ?The Facts of the Matter? is an essay.?Sure you may like your fictional devices announced at the top of the essay (?I imagine the rape went like so??), but telling the truth at the bottom of the essay (in the postscript) doesn?t discount the fact that the truth is owned and delivered.****

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*At first, I couldn?t figure out TriQuarterly?s aim in republishing something and so earnestly asking for reader input. Until the magazine made a statement saying they had no idea the piece had been published before, I thought it was a stunt. Of course, I have since decided it must be one of those writings that circles the internet every year, such as that e-mail about Mars and the Earth being so close that Mars will appear as large as the moon in the night sky (also known as the ?Mars Hoax Day? meme, deployed every August 27^th). Could this be creative nonfiction?s first circulating internet hoax?

**?Fictional autobiography? really should have tipped you off.

*** Plus, their horoscopes are often spot-on.

****Also,?Anonymous should be ashamed of herself for submitting something previously published (either by herself or someone else).

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Update: The essay is back up (re-republished?) at TriQuarterly, if you?d like to read it.

Source: http://thebarking.com/2012/10/the-facts-of-the-matter/

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